Thursday, September 29, 2011

5 comments:

I pity you for having to watch this, much less write about it, but you always did enjoy a challenge and a puzzle.

Certain genres or milieux, like, say, organized crime or the post-apocalypse world (with notable exceptions, of course), appeal to writers who have no idea how societies really work and love the opportunity to make shit up.

I bailed on "Empire" after the first couple of episodes in part because of its complete cluelessness about the world surrounding the speakeasies.

I went the extra mile and read the book the series is based on. If what you're referring to is the depiction of the period's politics, that's the stuff they're actually copying pretty much verbatim. Nucky Johnson was both an old school city boss and a mobster.

In general it's the shit they made up (all the family stuff) that works best for me -- but I always have had a sneaking fondeness for melodrama. And I like many of the actors.

I also watched all of the first season again, for my sins. Don't recall a "portrait of the surrounding community" as such. There are glimpses of how some people lived in that horrible bungalo community Margeret is rescued from. IOW, not sure what you're referring to.